


Dragonborn Gar

by frostyCheesecake



Series: Dragonborn Gar [1]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Kingmaker Kingbreaker - Karen Miller
Genre: Gar is the Dragonborn, I Don't Even Know, I made Gar have any idea on how to use weapons so he won't die, I'm Bad At Titles, Not Beta Read, Skyrim Main Quest, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:48:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25454182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frostyCheesecake/pseuds/frostyCheesecake
Summary: Gar has magic, instead of finding out in anyway resembling canon he gets transported to Tamriel when he's like 17 ish. Gar's magic doesn't come to him as naturally as other Dorana, Tamriel's more academic approach suits him well. He winds up being dragonborn, and winds up learning how to fight, becoming a decent archer and swordsman along with learning Tamriel brand magick.I have a vague outline of how this will go but we'll  see. I doubt I'll update frequently as writer's block often stops in to say hi even when I don't lose interest in an idea. It's been a while since I've read the Kingmake Kingbreaker books so I apologize for inaccuracies on that part. I'll probably edit/rewrite parts of chapters a thousand times, I'll give warning of that for previous chapters in later chapters.
Series: Dragonborn Gar [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2128560
Kudos: 1





	1. Obligatory Skyrim Openning

**Author's Note:**

> _Italics_ for when Gar can't understand someone.  
> Underlines for when someone can't understand him.

Gar slowly came to, to find he was tied up on a wagon. He didn't recognize any of the flora they were passing, or the armour of the soldiers leading the caravan. When his head stopped spinning he realized that there were other people tied up in the wagon.

" _Hey, you. You're finally awake_." A blonde man in armour sat across from him, also bound. " _You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there_."

A dark haired man in a ragged tunic sat next to the man who first spoke. " _Damn you Stormcloaks. Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you, I could've stolen that horse and been half way to Hammerfell. You there. You and me -- we should be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants._ "

Gar had no idea what language these two were speaking.

The blonde one spoke again. " _We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief._ "

One of the soldiers shouted. " _Shut up back there!_ "

The dark hair one looked over at someone, then Gar realized he was sitting next to another blonde man, this one was dressed in fancy clothes and was gagged. " _And what's wrong with him?_ "

Gar tuned out the two as they continued to converse in that foreign language. Instead he took in his surroundings. The trees weren't any kind he had seen before. The rough wooden wagons, he noticed they were in a chain, rode over a cobbled road, pulled by sturdy looking horses that were nothing like the horses in his father's stables. 

The people carried in the wagons were all obviously prisoners of some kind, he could see that many of them were wearing the same sort of simple armour as the man across from him. Their captors armour was wildly different in style and quality to that of the prisoners. He realized that their captors must truly be soldiers, and the people in blue insurgents of some kind. 

He looked back at the gagged man beside him, the man across from him seemed to hold some respect for him. He wasn't at all familiar with the fashions of where ever he was but the gagged man's clothes definitely seemed more in like with what the insurgents were wearing. This was probably their leader then, maybe that was why he was gagged. The dark haired man didn't seem to be with the others, but… the man across from him looked like he was just in some sort of battle, they were probably captured after some skirmish. The dark hair one was probably just in the wrong place at the wrong time then, Gar realized that he himself must also have been caught in the wrong place.

A town came into view down the road, obviously their destination. They came to a stop outside the gate as the soldiers shouted to a man who seemed to be a commander of some sort. They were ushered off of the cart towards a man with a clipboard, a woman with a crested helmet supervised him as he called out names of the prisoners. When the dark haired man made a run for it he knew this was an execution even before he spotted the headsman at the block.

The man with the clipboard seemed confused by his presence and asked him a question in the strange language. 

Assuming that the man was asking for his name, he gave it. "Gar Torvigg."

He glanced at the clipboard before turning to the supervisor. The woman responded in an irritated tone and he was ushered to go towards the block where the other prisoners were waiting. 

By this point he was resigned to the fact that he was going to die. So he stood there mutely as a woman in orange robes began to say some sort of prayer. An insurgent interrupted her and the executioner got to work. A loud roar sounded in the distance as he was lead to the block, he didn't know what it was bit everyone paused and looked around, a few even looking to the sky even. Soon after the roar sounded a lot closer, clearly coming from the sky this time. An enormous winged beast he could only think to call a dragon, landed at the top of the tower next to the courtyard and everything erupted into chaos.

The man who sat across from him on the cart grabbed him and led him off to a watch tower, where many of the other prisoners fled as the beast attacked the city. Once they were inside the man tried to ask him something.

"I can't understand you." Gar said, instantly earning surprised and confused faces from everyone in earshot. The man got over his shock and patted Gar on the shoulder saying what he assumed was a reassurance. He began leading him up the stairs only for the beast to smash through the wall, breathing fire at them. This was definitely a dragon.

He managed to jump safely down to the building below and ran back out into the city, eventually running into the man who had the clipboard. Who oddly seemed relieved to see him and asked him a question. 

Gar got the distinct feeling that he would be saying "I can't understand you" to a lot of people. The man just gave him a concerned look before leading him off towards the city gate.

They dodged their way through the city as the dragon continued to attack. Eventually they made it to what Gar took to be a keep of some kind. The man who had sat across from him was also heading into the keep, shouting something first at the soldier and then at him. Still not knowing what they were saying he decided to stick with the soldier, being in a strange land without knowing the language he figured sticking with the man who didn't seem like an insurgent was probably his best bet. Although he was sure the man who had been across from him was likely making an argument that the soldiers nearly cut his head off.

Once inside the soldier freed his hands and began to try to tell him something before realizing his mistake. He then quickly searched the room handing Gar a set of leather armour and a sword. Gar hesitantly put on the armour while the man continued searching the room. He eventually found a key and then they headed out into the hallway after he checked Gar had the armour on right.

~

They ended up having to fight through the keep, the insurgent prisoners having armed themselves seem just as concerned about the soldiers as the dragon outside. Gar wasn't terribly familiar with sword fighting, unless you counted the wooden one he had as a boy, but thankfully many of the insurgents didn't seem to have any proper training either and he was able to block their attacks, at least distracting them until the soldier could help him.

Thankfully they ran into other soldiers as they made their way down further into the keep, easily compensating Gar's lack of skill. Gar assumed that there was an escape tunnel or something down in the basement, as everyone seemed to agree that down was the way out. He knew that both the old and new palaces in Dorana had secret tunnels that led out of the city, he was pretty sure that was a common feature on many walled cities and keeps.

He managed to get a bow and arrows, he had some archery lessons back home and managed to actually help in the fighting as they made their way deeper. The soldiers would occasionally try to talk to him, and the man who had the clipboard thankfully seemed to explain to them that he couldn't understand. He only had to use the phrase he knew he'd come to dread a few times as they went deeper into the keep. And it seemed he had guessed right with the first question Clipboard had asked, as he had started calling him by his name.

Finally they made it out of the escape tunnel and saw the dragon fly off. They both breathed a sigh of relief. The soldiers who made it out with them split off heading… somewhere. Leaving him with the man who no longer had a clipboard.

"Gar?" The man said, getting the prince's attention. " _I'm Hadvar._ " He told him resting a hand on his chest as he said what Gar took to be his name.

Feeling a bit silly Gar pointed at him and repeated. "Hadvar?" The man- Hadvar smiled and nodded. Thank Barl, he was beginning to feel ridiculous thinking of him just as the man with the clipboard. He smiled back.

" _So…_ " Hadvar pointed at him. " _You. Are_ Gar. _And_ Torvigg?"

Gar realized that surnames might not be common here. Realizing charades was his only real means of communication he went with it. He held a hand to his chest and held up a finger with his other hand. "Gar." Then he made a vague gesture that he hoped Hadvar could tell meant family, then held up two fingers and touched his chest again. "Torvigg."

Hadvar didn't really get what exactly he meant by the vague gesture, but figured he either meant it was a family name or a clan of some sort. So he nodded. " _Right._ Gar Torvigg. _Well then_ Gar," he pointed down the road. " _There's a town down that way._ " He put his hand down. " _My uncle's the blacksmith there, and he can set us up for the night. Err I know you can't understand me, what am I doing_." He turned towards the road and gestured for him to follow.

~

They slowly made their way down the road, which Gar now knew the word for in this new language thanks to Hadvar pointing things out and naming. Including words like "tree" and the plural "trees". So by the time they made it to the "town" which was named "River wood" Gar could now point out various flora and geographical features in the local language. He was relieved when they made it into the town and made it to the "blacksmith", since he remembered Hadvar mentioning the word when they first set out.


	2. To Whiterun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somebody's got to tell the Jarl!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Italics_ for words Gar doesn't understand yet.
> 
> Underline for when Gar speaks in Doranen.

The blacksmith was indeed the person they were looking for, because it seemed "blacksmith" meant blacksmith and that was someone Hadvar knew well. The blacksmith and his family took them in gladly, and even after Hadvar had to leave they seemed fine with letting Gar stay, even going so far as to help him learn the language.

It was a month or so before he had a reasonable enough grasp on the language, apparently called "Tamrielic Common", "Tamrielic" or just "Common". At this point they realized that nobody had gone to talk to the "jarl" -which he took to mean some sort of lord- to ask for more guards for the town and tell him about the dragon. Apparently he looked like a good candidate.

So they gave him a pack, and a map -thankfully Alvor and his family had the foresight to show him the written version of Tamrielic so he could actually read it. Alvor fixed up the set of armour Hadvar had handed him in Helgen so it actually fit him properly and wasn't quite so obviously a soldier's uniform. So he headed out to "White run" to talk to the lord of the region.

~~-

The walk to Whiterun was long -it only took three days- but thankfully uneventful, other than a few wolves that got a little too interested in him. 

And then he saw the giant. 

Oh Barl, where has he found himself. He was really glad that there were already people fighting it off, because he was uselessly gawking at the thing.

"Never seen a _giant_ before, kid?" One of the people who had brought the thing down noticed him staring.

"No." Gar answered unthinkingly in Doranen as he stared at the downed giant. After a second he realized his mistake and spoke again. "No, I have not."

The people seemed a bit surprised at his accent. "Well we can't be too hard on you for not helping then. Where are you from? If you don't mind my asking." The red haired woman asked.

Finally tearing his eyes from the giant he looked at her. "Oh, umm. I am from Lurr. It's… far from here." He winced slightly at his own response, not that he had any idea where Skyrim was in relation to Lurr. "I don't have the words." They laughed a little at that.

"Well that's alright." The red head assured. "I hear learning a new language is difficult. Well." She glanced to her companions. "We ought to be heading back up to Jorrvaskr. If you find yourself up that way you should stop in, tell us a few tales from your homeland. Who knows, maybe one day you'll make a fine shield-brother." She made a gesture at her two companions before they took off towards the city.

Gar took a moment longer to look at the giant. It had certainly lived up to its name, it was huge. He looked down the road, the trio of warriors kept up a good pace and were already a long ways off. He guessed that Jorrvaskr was somewhere in the city, if their direction was any indication. He decided to try to find out who they were later as he followed after them towards the city.

~~-

The walls of the city were very impressive, he noticed as he walked through the gatehouses as he made his way up to the main gate. Well, they were certainly more impressive than those of Helgen and Riverwood anyway, and Dorana's walls had been more decorative than functional for the past century. While the walls of Dorana may be more striking to look at, the walls of Whiterun were clearly made to be functional first and foremost, clearly having faced battle in its past whereas the walls of Dorana were unmarred. 

The guards took a little convincing but allowed him into the city proper easily enough. Having been told the keep was at the highest point in the city, and having seen it as he was walking, he turned up a set of steps after passing the guard house. 

The steps lead up to a residential portion of the city. He looked around at the houses, unsurprisingly they all seemed to be of a higher status than those in Riverwood, being significantly larger and having shingled roofs rather than thatch. Oddly all of them seemed to be made primarily out of wood, though by this point he knew Skyrim to be vastly different from Lurr. He thought he was probably too used to Lords spending all kinds of money just to get the best stone out to wherever they wanted their new summer home to be, perhaps people here were more reasonable about those kinds of things.

As he walked, looking at the buildings, he wondered what the architecture was like in the rest of Skyrim. If the map he had been given was any indication, this place was far bigger than Lurr. He had been told that travel from Helgen to Whiterun on horseback took a couple days at least, which was about how long it took to get from one end of Lurr to the other. Between size and the year -201 of the 4th era- Gar imagined that Skyrim's architecture was not homogeneous.

He passed a church of some sort, he remembered someone mentioning a temple of "Kynareth". Once he had a better grasp of the language he wanted to find out more about the religion here. There was a large courtyard with a huge tree in the middle, walking around it he saw stairs leading down to a market. There was a huge statue of a caped warrior in a winged helmet slaying a serpent with a man preaching in front of it. To one side of the statue stairs lead up to a building that looked like an overturned ship, to the other was a longer set of stairs leading to the keep, Dragonsreach he believed it was called. He wondered if that story he heard Alvor tell his daughter about a dragon being captured in the keep had historical basis.

~~-

Climbing up to the keep certainly offered an impressive view of the city and surrounding plains. It was odd though that the keep was primarily made of wood like the houses down below, at least if the story of the dragon in Dragonsreach was true. Maybe it had been a frost breathing dragon? Or perhaps there was some sort of treatment for the wood that made it less susceptible to fire. Although it had looked like the back portion of the building was stone, maybe that's where they caught the dragon.

Either way the building was impressive. The sheer size of the timbers was incredible. Once inside the main hall, after explaining to more guards why he had come to the city, Gar couldn't help but stare up at the massive timbers supporting the roof of the hall.

He was startled out of his ogling by a grey skinned woman with a sword. "What's the meaning of this interruption? Jarl Balgruuf is not receiving visitors." She demanded.

Looking down at her he nervously replied. "Oh! Uh, Riverwood is in danger, I am sent to request aid from the lord." He was pretty sure he used the wrong word somewhere, her brief pause made him feel sure of it.

Her tone was only fractionally less harsh when she continued. "As housecarl, my job is to deal with all dangers that threaten the Jarl or his people. So you have my attention. Now, explain yourself." She put slight emphasis on the word 'Jarl'.

Oh right, they called Lords 'Jarls' here didn't they. That would take some getting used to. 

He told her what had happened to Helgen, why Riverwood needed help. And then repeated it to the 'Jarl' as she asked. He wasn't sure what a 'housecarl' was with her armour, but he guessed she must be some sort of advisor as she , the Lord, and a man who dressed more like an advisor discussed what to do about Riverwood.

The Lord sends off his advisers and then thanks Gar for bringing the news, before continuing, "There is another thing you could do for me. Suitable for someone of your particular talents, perhaps. Come, let's go find Farengar, my court wizard. He's been looking into a matter related to these dragons and... rumors of dragons. I'll introduce you to Farengar. He can be a bit... difficult. Mages. You know."

Gar confusedly trailed after the man as he led him to a room just off of the main hall. Ahh, right. They called magicians, mages and occasionally wizards here. The room indeed seemed to belong to a court magician, not being that dissimilar to Durm's work space back home. He recognized the potions set up against the back wall next to another table that seemed to be for enchanting.

The man they were looking for stood at his desk looking over some book. "Farengar, I think I've found someone who can help you with your dragon project. Go ahead and fill him in with all the details." The Lord addressed the mage.

He looked over at Gar as he awkwardly stood behind the Lord. "So the Jarl thinks you can be of use to me? Oh yes, he must be referring to my _research_ into the dragons. Yes, I could use someone to fetch something for me. Well, when I say fetch, I really mean delve into a dangerous ruin in search of an ancient stone _tablet_ that may or may not actually be there."

"And this… _tablet_ has something to do with dragons?" Gar asked. He wasn't too sure about going into some ruin, but this wasn't sounding like he'd be able to say 'no' to this.

The man seemed to notice his accent and slightly lost expression but pressed on anyway. "Ah, no mere brute _mercenary_ , but a thinker - perhaps even an aspiring scholar? You see, when the stories of dragons began to circulate, many dismissed them as mere fantasies, rumors. Impossibilities. One sure mark of a fool is to dismiss anything that falls outside his experience as being impossible. But I began to search for information about dragons - where had they gone all those years ago? And where were they coming from?"

"Good questions… What do you need me to do?" Gar asked once he'd finished.

"I, ah, learned of a certain stone tablet said to be housed in Bleak Falls Barrow - a 'Dragonstone,' said to contain a map of dragon burial sites." He explained. "Go to Bleak Falls Barrow, find this tablet - no doubt _interred_ in the main chamber - and bring it to me. Simplicity itself."

The lord took that moment to remind them of his presence. "This is a priority now. Anything we can use to fight this dragon, or dragons. We need it, quickly. Before it's too late."

Farengar responded promptly. "Of course, Jarl Balgruuf. You seem to have found me an able assistant. I'm sure he will prove most useful."

Then the lord turned to Gar. "Succeed at this, and you'll be rewarded. Whiterun will be in your debt." He turned to return to his throne before Gar could respond. Leaving him with Farengar.

After a second of silence Farengar looked him over. "You aren't really much of the adventuring sort are you?" He asked.

"Err… not really." Gar admitted, somewhat embarrassed.

"Hmm." Farengar acknowledged, thinking for a moment. "Do you know how to fight at least? Know how to use that bow?"

"Yes. Though not very good. I am okay with the bow."

Farengar nodded at this. "Well that's good. Worst you might face are a few bandits up there. So long as you pay attention and hit them with that bow before they get too close you should be alright. Same with any _draugr_ that might wake up."

"Umm, what's _draugr_?"

"Ancient undead warriors." Farengar explained, seeing Gar's nervous expression at that he added. "Don't worry, they aren't much worse than the bandits, most are weaker than that even. Just aim for the head." Gar nodded.

They stood there in silence for a moment before Farengar broke it. "Do you know how to cast magelight? It's very useful going down into those old crypts you know. Here I'll show you-"

-~~

A couple hours later Gar finally left Dragonsreach. He was astonished when he was actually able to follow along and cast the spell, having expected any attempt to be as successful as his failure to create glimfire. Farengar insisted that he had been going about spell casting wrong and was quite determined to help him learn how to do at least one. And so when he finally let Gar go on his way, he was able to cast magelight quite easily, had the beginnings of a basic fire spell in his arsenal, and had a new journal tucked into his pack. Farengar seemed personally offended at the idea that he had no way to write notes, especially once he had started giving him instruction.

As the sun was getting low on the horizon the lost prince headed down to the inn. Soon to set out on his first real adventure in the strange land he had found himself in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo! Finally finished it! This had sat mostly finished until today, wasn't sure how to approach the rest of the Farengar interaction once Balgruuf left. It's one thing to know what you want to happen, it's another to actually write it.
> 
> Apparently ignoring it for over a week helps.
> 
> Now to start the next chapter... 
> 
> Update (18 Nov, 2020): so... I’ve started rereading Kingmaker Kingbreaker, and I have half of the next chapter written. I currently need to beef up the word count or I'll never forgive myself, right now there's no dialog so I just have to figure out a few conversations and should be good then.
> 
> While rereading Innocent Mage I was reminded of just how much I had forgotten, and am very glad that this is not a story set in Lur at all, 'cause it'd be real dicey so far if it were. I remembered very few details about anything. Also in the story I'll probably keep spelling Lur with two Rs when it's mentioned because that's what Docs recognizes now. If that bothers anyone tell me, it isn't very difficult to get Docs to accept a different spelling if you're stubborn about it but I'd rather catch it soon if someone doesn't like it.


	3. No Friend of Mine

The trip to Bleak Falls Barrow certainly was something. Through some trial and error Gar had managed to get good at sneaking, and through some stroke of luck he managed to win or escape the fights he didn't manage to avoid. He even managed to retrieve that golden claw that was stolen from Riverwood while he was there. Though after returning it he was somewhat grateful that it had been stolen in the first place, seeing as he needed it to get further into the crypt and doubted he'd have been able to persuade the shopkeeper to part with it even for a few days. 

The draugr in the final chamber proved to be extremely difficult to defeat given its strange voice magic but he managed eventually, and was able to return victorious with the stone tablet he was sent to find.

Upon his return to Whiterun he got to enjoy his victory all of five minutes before he was sent to help fight a dragon. Gar wasn't really sure how useful his help actually was before he turned out to be dragonborn. Even then he felt pretty useless, but at least just by him being there they knew the dragon wouldn't get back up. At least if he was understanding the guards correctly. Tamriel was turning out to be a rather strange place.

He was rather confused when the lord named him thane, but he did gain the aid of an actual warrior for it. He became much better with a sword after that, not that that was a very high bar given his lack of skill. But Lydia offered him a few pointers so he wasn't as useless in a fight.

The walk to Ivarstead was long and boring. Not that he had much choice in going. Everyone was very insistent that he must go and meet with the Greybeards, and he didn't have much in the way of gold. Well, not enough to feel comfortable hiring a carriage at any rate. 

So walking it was. At least he had Lydia with him, both for conversation and ensuring he didn't get killed. He may have gotten better with a sword but he was still a far sight off from even being decent.

\---

It was reassuring to have confirmation that he was dragonborn, that his first shout wasn't a fluke. But that didn't stop him from dragging his feet about actually going on the Greybeards errand. He ended up doing this by wandering around Skyrim a bit and going on errands from other people.

Then he wasn't sure whether or not to feel stupid or annoyed that someone had gone through and taken the horn before he got there.

"Well it doesn't look like that note has been here long. And we probably would have noticed more dead draugr on the way in if they went that way." Lydia pointed out. "You should see what it says."

Gar hummed in acknowledgment as he glared at the note sitting where the horn should have been. He reluctantly plucked it out of the holder and opened it. 

"Well this sounds like a trap." He commented after reading it. 

Lydia took the note from him and read it through. "This… this sounds really shady." She paused as she handed it back to him. "And I'm pretty sure the Sleeping Giant doesn't even have an attic, let alone a room to rent in one."

"Yeah, it didn't last I checked. It's probably the innkeeper then? Or someone else who works there at least. How else are they going to catch the idiot asking for a room in the imaginary attic. Especially given the lack of _when_ they want to meet with me."

"Hmm, that would make sense. Certainly would make it easy for them to identify you, asking for the attic in a building that very clearly doesn't have one."

"Should we go though?" Gar said. They both pondered this for a moment.

Lydia sighed. "Eventually. They know nothing about us, or you. I'd say whoever this _'friend'_ is can wait. Didn't you want to go check out the college of Winterhold?"

Gar gave a nod. "Would you be alright with that?"

"Wouldn't have suggested it otherwise."

\---

They agreed not to walk the whole way, deciding instead to go to Dawnstar and hire a boat from there with the gold they stolen from various tombs in their travels. That walk was uneventful, and then they enjoyed the freezing yet scenic ferry to Windhelm. Neither of them had ever gone to Winterhold before, much less climbed the cliffs, and so decided against trying to find a way up from the sea. Gar had never been to Windhelm either and it wasn't like they were in any rush.

It was on the ferry that Gar finally got the details of the current war. He had only managed to pick up bits and pieces of it from heavily biased sources, all of which had assumed he was a Nord and there for informed on the situation. The ferryman was a fairly neutral party, not particularly inclined to get involved with one side or the other, and offered the occasional tidbit as Lydia explained events leading up to it. Gar laughed when he realized that his initial perception of the Stormcloaks had been correct, which he then explained to Lydia and the ferryman. In the end Gar remained neutral on the war seeing as he was an outsider, although this would shift towards sympathizing with the Imperials as he saw what the city of Windhelm was like towards its non-Nordic residents. Not that it didn't remind him a bit of home in the worst possible way.

They only spent a single night in the city, knowing they would pass by on the way back from Winterhold, and despite his misgivings Gar still wanted to see more of it. Come morning, they hired a carriage to take them the rest of the way to Winterhold as neither were particularly familiar with this part of the providence.

\---

Gar was very disappointed on the carriage ride when the driver explained that the college didn't let the general public in to have a look around.

"Well how do they admit new students then?" Lydia asked.

"They always have one of their number hang around at the start of the bridge to turn people away. I've heard that all you have to do is cast some fancy spell for the bridge guard and they'll let you in." The driver explained.

Gar perked up a little at that. "Really? Do you know what spell it is?" He asked hopefully.

"Hmm, no. But I've heard that they don't always ask for the same spell. Something easy enough for an apprentice to cast according to the few college mages I've had the pleasure of carting around."

Gar frowned contemplative.

"Well you could probably manage that my Thane. All that time you've spent listening to Farengar rattle on certainly seems to be amounting to something." Lydia offered encouragingly. "Even if it's a spell you don't know you'd probably manage to learn it pretty fast."

"Thane?" The driver echoed curiously.

\---

The rest of the ride dissolved into Lydia telling the carriage driver a glorified account of Gar helping the Whiterun guards take down a dragon and being named a thane of the hold. This managed to distract Gar from worrying about the test as he kept correcting Lydia's tale with what had actually happened, which was mainly him hiding and occasionally getting a hit in with his bow while the guards did most of the work of taking down the dragon. That got a few laughs out of the carriage driver, until Lydia got to the part about him being dragonborn.

Then there was a brief break in their journey for when the driver stopped the carriage, wanting to get a better look at the dragonborn of legend. He was only slightly disappointed when Gar still looked like an aspiring mage and novice adventurer, not some tall burly Atmoran warrior like many people imagine a dragonborn to look. Not that that phased him for long, especially when Gar demonstrated one his only two shouts, knocking the snow out of some trees and startling a few birds.

Then they continued on their way, Gar explaining that his only dragon slaying to date was really that of the Whiterun guards, and the Greybeards currently had him trying to track down the horn of Jurgen Windcaller. Though he and Lydia both silently omitted the fact that they had a strong clue as to where to find the horn that had nothing to do with Winterhold or the college.

Once in Winterhold, Gar wasn't terribly surprised that the mage on the bridge asked him to cast a spell he didn't know, in a school of magic that he had yet to look into. Conjure a flame atronach. Faralda wasn't a very patient teacher, but in less than half an hour he managed to cast the spell and was admitted into the college.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Chapter 3.  
> This isn't what I originally planned, but I decided that sticking so close to the in game experience would be boring to write and boring to read. If I ever feel so inspired I'll come back and actually write scenes instead of glossing over it. 
> 
> Sorry it's a bit shorter than the previous chapters, but I felt like I was just dragging it out unnecessarily at this point and was pretty happy with its current state. Still subject to editing but I will say on future chapters if I change or add anything story altering.
> 
> At the moment I think Gar will be in Winterhold into the next chapter, as I quite like the college. Especially since I got SE and was able to mod it to not be so barren. Until next time.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to point out any inaccuracies on either the Skyrim or KK front. I'll either correct it or tell you why I'm not. Sorry if Gar's out of character, like I said earlier it's been a while. I'm not the best writer so pointers are welcome, just try not to be to rude about it.


End file.
